helsel



Dec. 28, 1937. R. H. HELSEL TICKET ISSUING MACHINE Filled 1957" 2 get lJ g 7 mm 5 a 9!! I I all 7 1!! 4//// II I I 4 1/1 1 immumunu Dec. 28,1937. R. H. HELSEL TICKET IS$U I|NG MACHINE Filed J n. 15, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet? GU. 0 W M s R 0 w Z 6 W HY w QM 4 a M %V\ NQQRC QM. L 9%NM VI. M Q

Patented Dec. 28, 1937 'rrcnn'r rssnme MACmNE Reuben H. Helsel, Longisland @ity, N. Y., as-

signor to General Register @orporation, New York, N. Y., a corporationof Pennsylvania Application January 13, 1937, Serial No. 120,348

10 Claims.

This invention relates to a ticket issuing ma? chine designed to issueone or more tickets in a single cycle of operation.

It is the object of the invention to provide a gether by springs aftersome tripping operations.

Where anything of this sort is involved, the machine is necessarilynoisy. In accordance with the present invention any spring.actuation ofparts in this fashion is avoided with only a few exceptions, even in thecase of which the engagement of the parts is ofa cushioned character sothat noise is avoided.

'Rapidity of operation is achieved by causing the issue of tickets tooccurin the first half of a cycle of operation, which cycle isdetermined by a single revolution of a main shaft controlling all of theparts.

The above and subsidiary objects of the inven-. tion will be apparentfrom the following'description read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the apparatus adjacent theleft-hand side thereof and showingthe major operating parts, which arelocated closely adjacent one of the side plates;

Fig. 2 is a similar section but taken further to the right than Fig. 1and showing the parts to the right of an intermediate supporting plate;

Fig. 3 is a substantially vertical section taken onthe surface, a traceof which is indicated at 3-3 in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the switch construction.

The machine unit comprises a pair of side.

plates 2-.-2 suitably connected by cross members in a general fashioncommon to this art. A plurality of units are intended to be arrangedside by sidev within a casing (as indicated in Fig. 3) to issue ticketsof various denominations. Between the side plates there is located anintermediate supporting plate 4 which carries or aids in the support vofvarious operating elements. Suitable guiding means for the ticket stripare provided, including members 5 forming a channel approaching thefeeding pinwheel and a fixed member I and movable member 9 adjacent thepinwheel designed to maintain the ticket strip in engagement withthepins and lead it past the severing knives. The details of the framearrangement are of minor importance, and being substantiallyconventional, need ,not be described in detail.

Extending across the various units so as to be common to all of them,there is a shaft 6 carrying a' number of pinion-s 8 equal to theassembled units. The shaft 6 is driven through a suitable reductionmeans, either gearing or belting, from a motor which is carried by thehousing for the units. Each of the pinions 8 engages a gear ID in thecorresponding unit and through such engagement effects the drive of theunit.

The gear I!) is journalled on a pin H extending between the side plates2 and has securedto it a toothed clutch member indicated at' l2.-. Theteeth of the member l2 are designed to engage the laterally turned endId of a bell crank l6 which is pivoted at I'll upon a cam member H4 andurged in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in the figures by aspring I8 to bring its turned end M into the path of the teeth of themember l2. When the machine is in its stationary condition illustratedin the figures, a pin 20 on one of the arms of the lever I6 is engagedwith the end of a lever 22 having a nose 2% under which there is engagedthe end of a latching lever '26 pivoted upon a pin 28 extending betweenthe side frame members. The lever 26 is provided with a cam followingextension indicated at 30. The units may be individually locked by meansof a lever 32 which, when in the position indicated in Fig. 2, willprevent counter-clockwise move- -ment of the latching lever 26 and hencewill prevent any engagement of the clutch. The lever 32, however, may bethrown to a counter-clockwise position in which it clears the lever 26so that the unit may be operated.

The latching lever 26 carries an arm 34 which underlies a plate36pivoted in the frame at one side as indicated in Fig. 3. Above theplate 36 and guided through slots in various frame members there are aplurality of key rods, one of which is indicated in the drawings at 38.The others are of similar type, being suitably offset at their upperends to provide any desired arrangement of the keys. In all cases thesekeys are constrained to move vertically in contact with the right-handarm of a U-shaped member 64.

Each of the key rods is provided with an opening 40 through whichtherenormally projects an ear 42 formed on a corresponding selector mem-ber 44. Assuming that five tickets are to be issued as the maximum in acycle of operation, there willhe flvekey rods and five selector members4E pivoted upon the pin 46 and individually urged in a counter-clockwisedirection as viewed in Fig. 3 by springs 68. Each of the selectormembers is provided with a camming projection 50 designed to beprojected through a corresponding' slot 52 in the left-hand arm of theU-shaped member 54, which is spaced from the left-hand side plate 2 toprovide a channel 56. When any of the keys is operated by beingdepressed, its engagement with the car t; of the corresponding selectormember 84 will rock that selector member in a clockwise direction,projecting the camming' projection 50 across the channel 56. After thisaction occurs, the key will be moved further downwardly and a solidportion of the key bar will be opposite the ear 42, effectively lockingthe selector member 5 3 in its new position. It will accordingly retainsuch position until the key is raised.

Returning now to the drive, there is secured to the cam M 3 an eccentric58 which operates within an elongated slot in a yoke Sb pivoted at 62 tothe left-hand side plate. The yoke at its upper end is connected by alink Ed witha pin $6 which is guided for rectilinear movements within aslot 68 formed in the left-hand side plate. Pivoted on the pin 66 is abar it which is provided with a bevelled forward end it? designed toengage and ride up the camrning projection Sid of any of the selectingmembers which happens to be in its clockwise position due to keyactuation. The bar Ill carries a roller M arranged to be engaged by alever 86 along the upper edge of which it may roll. A spring l8 urgesvthe lever it in a.counter-clockwise -direction about its pivot l1 so asto initially bring a nose 80 thereof within'one of a series of slots (inthe present case five) in a member 82 which is pivoted upon a pin 8 andwhich is secured to a pinwheel 85 having five pins 88 arranged to engageperforations in a ticket strip to advance the same in the deliveryoperation. A pinion 90 also secured to the pinwheel and member 82 mesheswith a gear 92 pivoted upon a pin 84 and carrying a toothed member 96designed to be engaged by a nose I04 of a detent member I02 pivoted atI08 to the frame and urged in a counter-clockwise direction by a springI06.

The detent'member I02 carries a cam following roller 0 arranged to rideupon and be actuated by a cam II2 secured to the cam H4. The bar 10 isprovided with a-series of teeth 98 designed to engage the teeth of thepinion 96. The bar I0 is' normally held, when the machine is stationary,in the position illustrated so that,

upon lengthwise movement of the bar it, the teeth 98 would clear theteeth of the pinion 96.

A conventional counter (not shown) may be driven by the gear I00connected to-thepinwheel 86 in order to indicate the number ofticketsissued.

The cam H4 to which reference has been heretofore made is designed toact on thepair of follower rollers H6 and 8 carried by a lever' plateI38 underlying the-arm 34. Each of these the right-hand side plate anear Mil. In the case of the left-hand unit the ear Mil overlaps theplate I36 of the unit to its right (see Fig. 3) and so on until, in thecase of the most right-hand unit, the ear I40 overlaps a pin M2controlling a switch within a housing M4. The pin is urged upwardly by aspring shown at H86 eflective to hold contacts I41 away from contactsI49 when no unit is operating and thus open the motor circuit. When thepin M2 is lowered by depression of the plate 036, the switch is closedand actuates the motor, serving to drive the assembled units.overlapping of the successive plates l36 by the ears Md the depressionof a key in any of a series of assembled units will effect closure ofthe switch and starting of the driving motor. A lever M8 pivoted on thesame pin 23 as carries the lever 25 is provided with an end 3559designed to engage a tail portion of the plate E35 for the purposehereafter described. The lever I48 is provided with a follower extension552 arranged to be engaged by the cam iii. The cam M2 performs a triplefunction, acting upon the roller H0 and the follower ends 333 and H52 ofthe respective levers 26 and M8. I

Assuming that a.single ticket is to be issued, the operator will depressthe most forwardkey, which is the one shown in the figures. This willrock its' corresponding selector member M to cause the projection 5bthereof to extend across the channel 56. The depression of the keybeyond the position causing the opening :30 to clear the car 42 willlock the selector member in such position to cause. it to resist amechanical thrust to whichit is later subjected. The depression of thekey will also depress the arm 35, causing the latching lever 22% to moveout from beneath the end of the lever 2 5 and thus release the pin 2% onthe clutch lever it. As aresult, the end M of this lever will be movedinto the path of the teeth of the member l2 by the action of the springI8. The parts are arranged so that during the action just mentioned themovements of the elements are obtained without a snapping action so thatnoise is avoided.

As the arm 34 moves downwardly, it depresses the plate I36 to bring itstail above the lever end H50 and either directly or through intermediateplates I36 closes the switch I by depressing the pin I42 against theaction of spring I46, which is a light spring incapable of moving thekey upwardly because of the substantial friction It will be obvious thatdue to the V involved due to the pressure of the selector member v 44upon it because of the action of its spring 48. The parts so far moved,therefore, unless additional pressure is applied, will retain thepositions indicated. Upward movement is further resisted by the factthat the end of the latch lever 26 will now lie to the left of the nose24 oflever 22, which will prevent its clockwise movement untilsubstantial force is applied.

The motor will now drive the shaft 6 and consequently the clutch l2,imparting counterclockwise rotary movement, to the cams H2 and H4 andthe eccentric 58. The cam II2 immediately acts upon the roller 0 towithdraw the projection I84 of the detent lever I02 from between theteeth of the pinion '00, thereby releasing this pinion for movement. Theeccentric 58 also begins the counter-clockwise movement of I the yoke88, thereby driving the bar 10 toward the left. During the initialportion of such movement, the rack teeth 88 are held out of position toengage the teeth of thepinion 86. The movement just described takesplace without engagement of the rack and pinion until the bevelled endI2 of the bar I engages .the projection 50 of the selector member 44which has been actuated. The left-hand end of the bar is then cammedupwardly and the bar is caused to swing about its pivot pin 66, which isbeing guided within the slot 68, with the result that the roller ll willforce downwardly the lever I6, disengaging its end 80 from the slot inthe member 82 into which it projected. At the same time the rack '98 ismoved downwardly to engage the teeth of the pinion 98. The downwardmovement of the end 80 releases the pinwheel 86 and the parts gearedthereto, including the pinion 96, so that the rack during the furtherleftward movement of the bar I0 will drive the pinion and rotate thepinwheel 88 to feed the ticket strip. In the case just described, when asingle ticket is issued the left-hand movement of the bar continues onlysufliciently to move the pinwheel through a peripheral extentcorresponding to the length of a determined by the delay before the rackengages the pinion, which delay is determined by the position of theselector member which has been actuated, If five tickets are to beissued, for example, the rack is engaged with the pinion almostimmediately after the forward movement of the bar I0 begins, whileintermediate numbers of tickets involve suitable delays prior to theengagement. In any event, the total number of tickets to be issued willbe projected past the knives I30 and I32 during the left-hand movementof the bar I0.

Adjacent the left-hand dead center pos tion a substantial rotation ofthe eccentric 58 will take place without any appreciable movement of thebar I0 when lost motion is considered. During this periodthe cam H2will'engage successivelv the follower ends I52 and 30 of the levers I48and 26. Engagement with the first causes the projection I50 to engagebelow the tail of the plate I36 so as to prevent its rising even thoughthe arm '34 is raised, thus maintaining the switch closed and the motoroperating. The cam II2 engaging the follower end 30 of lever 26 willcause arm 34 to be forcibly raised. moving the plate 36 upwardly .andraising the depressed key bar and permitting the selector member 44 toagain assume its counter-clockwise position with the ear 42 projectingthrough the hole 40.- .As a consequence of this action, the forward endof the bar I0 is released by the.projecti on 50 of the selector member44. /This action preferably occurs just prior to the dead centerposition of the eccentric 58, and in order to avoid noise and eifectalso accurate positioning of the pinwheel,

there is prevented the immediate upward movement of the bar I0 by reasonof the fact that the projection 80 of the lever I6 is riding upon theperiphery of the member 82 and consequent- 1y will not. raise the bar I0immediately. However, as soon as sufficient further movement takes placeto bring one of the notches in the member 82 adjacent the projection80,.the projection will fall into such notch and the bar I0 will berocked counter-clockwise under the action of the lever 16, disengagingthe teeth 90 from .the pinion 96.

After this occurs, the roller 0 is released by the cam H2 and the pinion96 is locked in fixed position by the detent I02. The detent I02 isprovided so that the cam action between I04 and the teeth 96 mayaccurately align the ticket strip to bring the portion to be out intoalignment with.

the knives.

The clockwise movement of the lever 26 may take place because of thefact that its end applies a thrust to the end 24 of the lever 22 in adirection laterally of the pivot of lever 22, which is thereby caused tobe rocked clockwise against the action of its spring to bring its lowerend into the path of the pin 20 on the clutch lever 66 to ultimatelydisengage the clutch and stop the operation.

The reverse movement of the bar I0 now occurs. The rack teeth 90 moverearwardly, clearing the pinion 96. During this reverse movement the camH4 acts upon the rollers H6 and I I8 toimpart first a cutting movementto the knife I and then a retracting movement to clear a passage for thenext advance of the ticket strip, It will be seen that when a puralityof tickets is issued the cutting will take place at the end of theseries, so that the plurality will be issued in a single strip. As theend of the cycle of rotation is reached, the levers 25 and I48 arereleased by the cam I I2. The release of the lever 26 merely permits itto be later rocked by a key actuation. The release of the lever I48withdraws the projection I50 from beneath the plate I36 so that thespring I46 can lift this plate I36 and .the associated plates and alsoopen the motor circuit. At the same time the pin 20 will be engaged bythe lower end of the lever 22, causing the end I4 of the lever I6 torock out of the path of the teeth of the clutch member I2. Theengagement of the pin 20 with the end of the lever 22 determines theinitial position of the parts. 7

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means for actuating the feeding means to issuedifferent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation, said lastmeans including a member having an invariable stroke in each cycle ofoperation and means including a plurality of selective keys for causingsaid member to eflect actuation of the feeding means during varyingportions of said invariable stroke to thereby effect issuance ofdifferent numbers of tickets.

2. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means for actuatingthe feeding means to issuedifferent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation, said lastmeans including a member having an invariable stroke in each cycle ofoperation, a plurality of selective elements engageable by said memberat different positions in its invariable stroke and arranged'to shiftsaid member, and; connections between the member and feeding meanswhereby the member may drive the feeding means during the portion ofitsinvariable stroke folowing said shift to thereby efiect issuance ofdifferent numbers of tickets.

3. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means for actuating the feeding meansto issuedifferent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation, said lastmeans including a rack having an invariable stroke in each cycle ofoperation, a

'iil

stroke and arranged to shift said rack laterally, said rack being out ofengagement with said pinion prior to said lateral shift, and engagingsaid pinion to actuate the feeding means after said lateral shift tothereby efiect issuance of different numbers of tickets.

i. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means ior actuating the feeding means to issuedifferent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation, said lastmeans including a rack having an invariable stroke in each cycle ofoperation, a pinion arranged to drive the feeding means, and means toefiect a lateral shift of the rack at different selective positions inits invariable stroke, said rack being out of engagement with saidpinion prior to said lateral shift, and engaging said pinion to actuatethe feeding means after said lateral shift to thereby eifect issuance ofdifierent numbers of tickets.

5. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means for actuating the feeding means to issuedifierent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation,

said last means including a member having an means for said units,operation controlling means 1 in each of said units, and means wherebyactuation of the operation controlling means of any unit serves toinitiate action of the common driving means, the last mentioned meansincluding a motion-transmitting member in each unit arranged to overlapa corresponding member of an adjacent unit.

7. A ticket issuing machine comprising a plurality of units embodyingticketissuing mechanism arranged side by side, a common driving meansfor said units, individual clutches in the pinion arranged to drive thefeeding means. and a plurality of selective elements engageable by saidrack at difierent positions in its invariable various units forconnecting the common driving means to the ticket issuing mechanisms,operation controlling means in each of said units, and means wherebyactuation of the operation controlling means of any unit serves toinitiate action of the common driving means, the last mentioned meansincluding a motion-transmitting member in each unit arranged to overlapa corresponding member of an adjacent unit.

8. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means for actuating the feeding means to issuedifferent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation, said lastmeans including a member having an invariable stroke in each cycle oioperation, a plurality of selective elements engageable by said memberat different positions in its invariable stroke and arranged to shiftsaid member, and connections between the member and feeding meanswhereby the member may drive the feeding means during a portion of itsinvariable stroke delimited by the shift to thereby efiect issuance ofdifierent numbers of tickets.

9. A ticket issuing machine comprising means for feeding and guiding aticket strip, and means for actuating the feeding means to issuedifferent numbers of tickets in single cycles of operation, said lastmeans including a driven member having a plurality of teeth and adriving member having a plurality of teeth for engagement with the teethon the driven member and actuated a substantially constant distance ineach cycle of operation, and means for relatively moving said drivingand driven members into and out of engagement with each other andfor-holding them in engagement for diiierent extents of movement of thedriving member to thereby efiect issuance of difierent number oftickets.

movable in a longitudinal direction through a substantially constantdistance in each cycle of operation, a toothed driven member, and meansfor holding said rack member in engagement with said driven. member fordiiferent extents of movement of the rack member to thereby effectissuance of different numbers of tickets.

REUBEN H. HILSEL.

